A 1915 vaudeville and movie palace on the National Register, where staff and Syfy's Ghost Hunters team have reported a woman-in-white nicknamed Mary on stage, backstage, and in the balcony.
80 Hanover Street, Manchester, NH 03101
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Active 880-seat performing-arts venue. Ticket prices vary by performance; consult palacetheatre.org. The building is generally accessible only during performances and box-office hours.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Historic urban theater with accessible entrance and seating; consult box office for specific accommodations.
Equipment
No Photos
Est. 1915 · Opened April 9, 1915 · U.S. National Register of Historic Places (1975, as the Athens Building) · First fireproof / air-conditioned theatre in NH · Survived 1984 Hanover Street fire
The Palace Theatre at 80 Hanover Street in downtown Manchester opened on April 9, 1915, with the musical comedy 'Modern Eve' playing to a full house. The local press billed the opening as the grandest social occasion of the century in Manchester. The theatre was promoted as the only first-class venue in New Hampshire that was both fireproof and air-conditioned at the time of its opening.
Greek immigrant Victor Charas began construction in June 1914 with general contractor Henry Macropol and Rochester, New York architecture firm Leon Lempert & Son. The 880-seat theatre was completed in under a year. The building, originally designed as a multi-use Athens Building, was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places as the Athens Building in 1975.
In 1984 a fire on Hanover Street destroyed much of the block. The firewall built into the Palace's original 1914 design held and saved the theatre along with the rest of the buildings on the far side. A woman was killed in an adjoining apartment during this fire — an incident later cited by Palace Theatre President Peter Ramsey in connection with the building's hauntings.
The Palace Theatre celebrated its centennial in 2015 and continues as Manchester's principal performing-arts venue, hosting Broadway tours, concerts, and educational programming. It is operated by The Palace Theatres, which also runs the nearby Rex Theatre.
Sources
Per the Cow Hampshire / Union Leader coverage of the 2008 Syfy 'Ghost Hunters' (TAPS) episode, the Palace Theatre's most frequently reported apparition is a woman in white nicknamed Mary. Staff and visitors describe seeing her on stage, in backstage areas, and in the balcony. Per HauntedPlaces.org and 94.9 WHOM's coverage, the same lore includes equipment malfunctions blamed on a mischievous spirit, and EVPs of a male voice yelling at people.
Palace Theatre President Peter Ramsey gave the Ghost Hunters team a tour and shared firsthand experiences with the theatre's haunted reputation, including the tale of a woman who died in an adjoining apartment during the 1984 Hanover Street fire. Ramsey has suggested publicly that at least one of the spirits could be connected to that incident, although the identification with 'Mary' is offered as a possibility rather than a confirmed connection.
The building's ghost lore predates the TAPS visit — the Cow Hampshire history blog notes that the Palace's haunted reputation was already well-established in Manchester theatre circles by 2008, and HauntedPlaces.org and Seacoast Current have continued to circulate the stories. The Tripping on Legends blog and other paranormal-investigation outlets list the Palace among New Hampshire's most-investigated historic theatres.
Because the Palace is an active 880-seat working theater with a full performance calendar, paranormal investigations are not part of the public program. Visitors experience the building through performances, and the ghost lore is part of the venue's institutional storytelling.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Attend a live show at the 880-seat Palace Theatre and experience the 1915 vaudeville-era interior. The building's haunted reputation, including the woman-in-white nicknamed Mary, is part of theater folklore retold by staff and was investigated on Syfy's Ghost Hunters in 2008. The building is not open for paranormal investigations — visit through scheduled performances.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Joliet, IL
The Rialto Square Theatre opened May 24, 1926, designed by Chicago firm Rapp & Rapp for the six Rubens brothers. Its Neo-Baroque interior — modeled in part on the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles — earned it a place on the American Institute of Architects's '150 Great Places in Illinois' and a listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
Memphis, TN
The Orpheum Theatre opened November 19, 1928, replacing the Grand Opera House that had stood on the same Main-and-Beale corner since 1890 before burning to the ground in 1923. Designed by Chicago's Rapp and Rapp at a cost of $1.6 million, it served vaudeville, then movies, and today operates as a 2,308-seat Broadway-touring house.
St. Louis, MO
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